On Goanet, Pravin Sabnis wrote: I have no opposition to your video interviews of politicians, because it seeks to make the politician answerable to the queries on his policies and politics.
I would second Pravin's views on this. I too have no problems per se with politicians being interviewed on Goanet and I am all for intelligent discourses, discussions and debates of this kind and of this nature. To that extent, I would join you in patting Dr Anand on his back for his innovative initiative. Let me clarify that I have no bones to pick with Dr Anand or Rajan and I am not in any way writing all this for a one -upsmanship and/or to cause embarrassment of any kind to them or anybody else for that matter. I accept Dr Anand's contentions that his intentions were honest, sincere and transparent but if his well-intended venture is generating more heat than light then he has no one but himself and Rajan to blame for all this. There are a lot of issues that have cropped up on account of Dr Anand's inconsistency and Rajan's stubborn, uncompromising, unethical and illogical stand in this whole gloomy interview episode. I am writing this as I feel that both Rajan and Dr Anand are being unfair and inequitable to Goanet and its members. I will try to summarize the sequence of events on this subject to clarify what exactly many of us are objecting to, in the hope that better sense prevails upon both Dr Anand and Rajan; and together they adopt postures that are fair, just and equitable to all concerned. The sequence of Events so far: 1. Dr Anand moots the initial proposal of uploading an interview of Manohar Parrikar exclusively on the Goanet Forum, with Parrikar fielding questions exclusively from Goanetters. In his post, Dr Anand solicits questions from Goanetters for the said interview. 2. Though Dr Anand errs in not taking prior approval from the Goanet Moderators for this venture, he makes amends in the course of future discussions and deliberations by making it clear to them that they are free to set their own guidelines for the interview and choose their own list of moderators who will prepare the final slate of questions. 3. Dr Anand also mentions here, at this stage, that he has spoken to Rajan Parrikar to conduct the interview and Rajan has agreed. 4. After the initial hiccups and after taking into consideration the great deal of interest that this interview has generated, the Goanet moderators give their stamp of approval to Dr Anand's proposal and set a few guidelines to conduct the interview, which are by and large fair. 5. All's well that would have ended well here, but this episode gets an expected Villain. Rajan Parrikar! Rajan acts as stubborn as a mule, throws several tantrums and begins to behave like a Don. A few try to make Rajan see reason but they fail. After all, "Don ko Convince karna Mushkil hi nahin, namunkim hai". Dr Anand goes into hibernation at this stage while Rajan begins messing things up by putting a spanner in the proposal. 6. Rajan does a Goebbels on Goanet. If you repeat a LIE a few times, it may well end up sounding like the truth. Rajan says that they will implement the interview as per their initial plan and initial vision, a big LIE since the initial plan and initial vision was Dr Anand's and Rajan had nothing to do with it. By Dr Anand's own admission, he sought Rajan's permission to be the interrogator only at a belated stage. 7. Rajan also says that they had made it clear from the start that they would use Goanet only to solicit questions and they would implement the whole interview the way they had planned it in the first place. Another big LIE, as these statements are contrary to Dr Anand's own utterings which are again on record. 8. Rajan modifies, reframes and rewrites all the questions submitted by the vast Goanetters and decides for himself which questions shall be asked and which questions must be deleted. Rajan does not deem it fit to give individual credit to the Goanetters who have spent so much of their time, efforts and energies in preparing/ submitting these questions. 9. Rajan thus does a K.P.S Gill on the Goanetters. Gill, it may be recalled, had rewarded 6 members of the Asian Gold Cup Winning Team by giving them the unceremonious sack. Rajan does the same, says that Goanetters have not been asked to spend a nickel or burn a molecule of their sweat and must therefore go and take a hike. Application of mind and effort obviously means nothing to Rajan. Thoughts and ideas similarly have zilch value to him. He feels that he is therefore justified in not giving the due credit to the vast Goanetters who have prepared/ submitted their questions; after all, as Miguel has rightly pointed out, he is doing all this for a cause. 10. Rajan says that he is free to(and he may) publish this interview on other fora and other media outlets, even though Dr Anand in his initial proposal made it abundantly clear that Manohar Parrikar had given his consent for recording an interview exclusively for Goanet. Rajan obviously needs Goanet no further. He has milked her enough and he can go about selling the proceeds now. 11. Finally, after a deep and long slumber, Dr Anand wakes up and endorses Rajan's stand. Says that whatever Rajan is doing is right and is part of their Initial Vision, when evidence shows that Rajan was not a part of his initial vision. By saying this, Dr Anand also contradicts his own statements which are on record. A few observations: 1. Dr. Anand is not the first person to solicit questions from Goanetters and he certainly won't be the last. Roland Martins has been doing that all the time for his Friday Balcao. But Roland Martins has always been clear in his approach; Goanetters are informed in unequivocal terms through his posts that the Friday Balcao is his venture and has nothing to do with Goanet. The Goanet Team too has never objected to the same. Dr Anand could surely have adopted this approach, issued a similar press note making it clear that this would be his own venture and saved us, and him, the trouble of going through all this. 2. Dr Anand's approach has been inconsistent and disappointing, more so after the entry of Rajan Parrikar. Dr Anand first proposes to have this interview as a Goanet Official Venture, and then he joins Rajan, goes off on a tangent and says that they do not want Goanet to have anything to do with this. 3. After all the discussions, debates and deliberations on this subject and after so much of our efforts and energies have gone into preparing/ submitting all the questions, Dr Anand and Rajan cannot adopt such an adamant, uncompromising and "go-take-a-hike" stand. 4. In all this, the Goanet team has been more than equitable and fair in their stand and Dr Anand and Rajan must not test their patience any longer; and ours too in the process. 5. At the same time, we must all note that we are not here for petty fights, spats and quarrels. Though a lot of water has flown under the bridge, we need to forget all our bitterness and let the bygones be bygones. We are all here, after all, for the love and sake of Goa. In the present scenario, I would recommend a compromise package and I would urge both the sides, i.e. Dr Anand/ Rajan and the Goanet Team to consider the same (or any other stand mutually beneficial to both the sides). 1. Since Rajan Parrikar has already put his heart, mind and soul into this interview, let him remain as MP's Interrogator but let the Goanet Team suggest another name entirely of their choice to Join Rajan. Two heads are, after all, better than one. My Choice, as I mentioned earlier, would be Cecil. After all the heat that has been generated here, we could do with a lot of humor as well and we can trust Cecil to sink his teeth deep into the interview. 2. All questions asked shall be in their original forms (corrections, if any, should be only grammatical), and due credit for the same must go to the individual Goanetters who have submitted those questions. 3. Let Goanet select a Panel of moderators who shall prepare the Final List of questions to be asked. We can have a group of 5 to 6 moderators and since the original idea is Dr Anand's, let him be the Chief Moderator. 4. Let the interview be published on other fora and other media outlets as per their wish but let the revenue generated out of the same, if any, go into the Goanet coffers. With the permission of the Goanet Team and on behalf of other Goanetters, I take it upon me to extend this Olive Branch to Dr Anand and Rajan. It is up to them now to either accept it or reject it. If such or similar mutually beneficial terms are not accepted by Dr Anand and Rajan and they stick firmly to their stand, the Goanet Team, in the best interests of many of its members who at the moment are feeling justifiably aggrieved in all this, must write in their independent capacity to Shri Manohar Parrikar, outlining the above mentioned facts and the unethical standards adopted by Dr Anand and Rajan. Goanet must not remain silent in the face of such arrogance. And, If, after all that, Manohar Parrikar continues with the interview, we have another topic to discuss :-) When I say all this, let me make it amply clear that these are simply my own suggestions/ recommendations and the Goanet Team can/ must take their own independent stand in all this. Cheers and Good wishes to all Sandeep Heble Panjim-Goa
